// Overseas travel blog

The crew from school and I went out last night to Kreuzberg for a few beers and shisha. It was very chilled, and cheap too. We met a random guy in his 50’s at the shisha bar. He was sitting at least crowded set of lounges, so the four of us that were left sat next to him and sparked up a conversation.

Gerhard was a yoga teacher, and was there alone with only his backpack and a pack of tobacco. He’d made an impulse decision to jump on a bus from his hometown, 3 hours away, and take a trip into Berlin early that evening. We spoke a little German, and English and meanwhile he had a little notepad with which to record new vocabulary. I learned ‘Unterführung’ (underpass), and in return we explained to him the meaning of ‘sober’. This was pertinent, as he remained sober. It freed the body and allowed him not to succumb to social expectation, he said. Healthy body in yoga, healthy mind, and doing only what the body requires, he said. ‘Why, then, do you smoke?’ I asked. And with a shrug of the shoulders, it translated as something along the lines of ‘everyone has a vice’.

We left the bar just before public transport started winding down for the night, and he remained at the bar, having made no plans about where to sleep so that the universe could bring an opportunity to him. We paid his tab on the way out. It consisted of 1 x mint tea.

Meanwhile, zu Hause, I arrived back after midnight fairly ravenous as we’d somehow forgotten about dinner, and GHL (German Host Lady) has had a mid-week pantry tidy-up. That’s great, but maybe letting me know where you’ve hidden my bread would be nice, so I can make a sandwich? I ended up hangrily rustling through a tonne of crap in some wicker baskets, likely waking up my housemate in the process, and finally came across the bread. I made myself a delicious sandwich with liberal amounts of quark and crept off to bed.

I’ve been dreaming about the quark in Germany ever since the last time we were here 3 years ago!